The Waterways Journal
19 September 2005
Marine traffic in the Port of Pittsburgh increased by 21 percent in the first six months of 2005 compared with the same period last year, the Port of Pittsburgh Commission reported last week.
The total number of barges that moved through locks within the port area increased from 77,846 last year to 89,826 this year. The increase amounts to nearly 2,000 additional barges per month, bringing the total number of barges in the port's lock system to almost 15,000 per month.
Activity at several key locks also showed increases in the first six months of 2005 compared with 2004. Activity at the Montgomery Lock on the Ohio River increased by 1.4 million tons to more than 11 million tons; Lock 2 on the Monongahela increased by more than 1.9 million tons to 9.6 million tons; and Lock 4 traffic increased by 2 million tons to 5.9 million tons.
The most abundant commodities shipped by barge in the port, coal and sand and gravel, showed steep increases over the first six months of 2004, with coal rising 29 percent to 54.7 million tons, and sand and gravel rising 14 percent to 6.4 million tons, the port reported.
New Monitoring System
The commission announced that it was using a new system to track and measure river traffic trends in the port. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Lock Performance Monitoring System (LPMS) provides up-to-the-day traffic data that can be quickly and closely examined to reveal trend information.
The previously used Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center system offered annual traffic data, but it was delayed by at least 18 months. The new LPMS information, however, measures lockage activity within the Port of Pittsburgh Commission's jurisdiction and can also provide Commission officials with daily updated traffic information.
"The new traffic monitoring system will allow us to be more proactive in responding to emerging barge traffic trends, creating efficiencies that will help continue to draw river transportation to the region," said James R. McCarville, executive director of the Port of Pittsburgh Commission,
The Pittsburgh Port District encompasses an 11-county area including Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Clarion, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland counties, essentially all 200 miles of commercially navigable waterways in southwestern Pennsylvania.